How Do Pigeons Recognise Us?
University of Sheffield undergraduate bioscience students reveal the complex recognition skills of our city’s pigeons.
Pigeons are a familiar sight in our towns and cities, but how much attention are they paying to the people around them?
In this video, University of Sheffield students investigate whether feral pigeons can learn to recognise the people who feed them and what visual clues they use to tell one person from another.
The team puts the pigeons of Sheffield’s Weston Park to the test. One person acts as a feeder while another does not, before the students change the feeder’s appearance by adding distinctive clothing. By observing how the birds respond, they explore whether extra visual cues affect how pigeons learn and recognise individuals.
The video also looks at what we already know about bird intelligence and behaviour with Professor Ben Hatchwell from the University of Sheffield.
Feral pigeons live closely alongside people and depend heavily on urban environments for food and shelter. Understanding how they recognise and respond to us gives us a closer look at the cognitive abilities of a species we see every day but often overlook.
Credits
- Presenter: Alice Butler (Zoology student at the University of Sheffield)
- Camera/Audio: Mae Cameron (Zoology student at the University of Sheffield)
- Camera/Audio: Martha Flind (Zoology student at the University of Sheffield)
- Director: Phoebe James (Zoology student at the University of Sheffield)
- Producer and Director: Katie Pile (Zoology student at the University of Sheffield)
- Interviewee: Ben Hatchwell (Professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Sheffield)
- Interviewee: Jake Callaghan (Biology student at the University of Sheffield)